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artillery units in both tank and motorized rifle divi- salvo carried on board. Poland and Czechoslovakia
sions also are being expanded. For example, six-piece, now have a few 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, and
122-mm howitzer batteries in the motorized rifle Czechoslovakia has added a new artillery division.
regiments in Soviet motorized rifle divisions have 18. Armored Personnel Carriers and Other
grown to 18-piece battalions. Combat Vehicles. Soviet divisions in Eastern Europe
16. In addition to artillery weapon systems, the are equipped with a full complement of APCs. Short-
Soviets are deploying a number of new artillery ages remain in Soviet divisions in the western USSR,
support vehicles to improve their artillery fire direc- however, with some divisions lacking as much as two-
tion, control, and target acquisition capabilities. Laser thirds of their APCs. One-half to two-thirds of the
rangefinders, fire-control computers, and fire-control 20,500 Soviet APCs opposite NATO are now modern
data transmission systems have been issued to some amphibious models. (See figure II-4). The rest are
artillery units. There is also evidence that the Soviets older models with relatively poor cross-country mobil-
now are producing and training with proximity fuses, ity. The Soviets continue to replace these APCs with
which will make their artillery considerably more improved models-the BTR-60PB and the BMP. The
effective against unarmored vehicles and troops with- BTR-60PB is an amphibious, wheeled APC which
out overhead protection, provides good mobility and armor protection from
small arms and shell fragments. The BMP is an
17. Modernization and some expansion are under amphibious, tracked vehicle designed to operate
way in NSWP artillery units but at a much slower closely with tanks and has greater armor protection
pace than in Soviet units. East Germany is replacing its than the BTR-60PB. It is equipped with a machine-
BM-21 multiple rocket launchers with the Czechoslo- gun, a 73-mm gun, and the Sagger antitank guided
vak RM-70 system, which can rapidly reload a second missile launcher. It also has a CBR (chemical, biologi-
Modern Warsaw Pact Armored Fighting Vehicles and APCs Figure 11-4
BMP BTR-60PB BMD (Airborne)
Armament 73-mm gun 14.5-mm and 7.62-mm 73-mm gun
7.62-mm machinegun machineguns Three 7.62-mm machineguns
Mount for antitank guided missile Mount for antitank guided missile
Weight (metric tons) 13.6 10.3 8.0
Length/height (m) 6.7/1.9 7.2/2.3 5.4/1.7
Speed(km/h) 70 80 80
Cruising range (km) 500 500 320
Crew 3 3 2
Number of passengers 8 14 6
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